Communication access chassis with general purpose computing platform

ABSTRACT

A communication access chassis having a general purpose computing platform provides communication access between remote users and computer network via the public telephone network. The general purpose computing platform is connected to an internal chassis bus complex transmitting incoming calls between a telephone line interface and a signal conversion system and between the signal conversion system and a local area network interface. The computing platform has a conventional microprocessor and local or peripheral memory storage devices and implements a commercially available open network operating system such as Windows NT™. By virtue of the ability of the general purpose computing platform to run network server programs locally, i.e., in the communication chassis, server functionality that has been provided only by remote computers on a local area network in the prior art is incorporated into the communications chassis itself, providing for improved network management, increased network security and reduced access and processing time, all in a manner transparent to the remote user.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of patent application Ser. No.08/813,173, filed Mar. 7, 1997, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,249,527.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to the field of telecommunications and moreparticularly to communication access devices that allow for incoming andoutgoing data communications to be transmitted between a multiplexeddigital telephone line and a computer network such as a local or widearea network.

B. Description of Related Art and Advantages of the Invention

Computer networks have been typically linked to the public switchedtelephone network using various types of connection equipment, such aschannel banks, PBX equipment, and gateway devices. Several referencesthat describe such network access devices or related systems include thepatents to Thomas, U.S. Pat. No. 4,796,292; Miller et al., U.S. Pat. No.5,402,474; Ogasawara et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,220,560. Other referencesof interest include the patents to Hunt et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,361,259;Flohr, U.S. Pat. No. 5,374,952 and Yoshida, U.S. Pat. No. 5,247,516. Thepatent to Davis, U.S. Pat. No. 4,991,169, describes an all-digital DSPapproach for interfacing between a telephone line and a host computersystem.

In the past, network access devices such as channel banks and PBXs havebeen viewed simply as access devices for the host computers on thenetwork. The signal processing and computational capabilities built intosuch devices were primarily devoted to A/D and modem signal conversionsfor the incoming and outgoing calls, protocol processing necessary tointerface with the local area network and perform routing functions, andprocessing associated with multiplexing and demultiplexing functions toreceive or transmit calls to time slots on a time division multiplexedcarrier system, such as T1.

The present invention represents a significant departure from the priorart approach to the role and limited functionality of communicationaccess devices per se. Whereas in the prior art communication accessdevices have been designed to perform a limited role in terms of callprocessing and routing, with the ultimate destination for the callsbeing one or more host computers on the local area network, we havedeveloped a communications server chassis that, in addition to providingthe network access functions of an integrated communications router,also includes a general purpose computing platform. The platform runs acommercially available stand alone or shareware operating system such asWindows® NT from Microsoft Corporation. The software running on thecomputing platform may perform, for example, network management, remoteaccess, intranet web page, and other functions.

A communication access device with the integral general purposecomputing platform, as described herein, provides a substantialadvancement in the features and capabilities of a communication accessdevice. For example, in an embodiment in which the communication accessdevice is connected to the network, improved remote access service maybe achieved since the general purpose computing platform can routecertain calls to the LAN while terminating other calls, such as thosecalls that require access to information that is stored locally in thememory in the general purpose computing platform. Additionally, thegeneral purpose computing platform may provide enhanced networkmanagement service efficiently controlling the flow of calls between theaccess device and the network. The general purpose computing platformmay also provide protocol proxy service and authentication services.

The installation of the general purpose computing platform in thecommunications access device allows for calls from remote users thatdial into the chassis to be terminated in the general purpose computingplatform. The host computer on the local area network that would be theendpoint of an incoming call in the prior art, is, in both reality andin effect, placed into the communication access device itself. Moreover,since the communication access device has the capability of handling alarge number of incoming calls at the same time, due to the callprocessing and signal conversion circuitry included in the chassis anddescribed below, the communication access device can perform bothcommunication access and information access functionality at the sametime in the same physical chassis. This feature can result in improvednetwork security since it enables the communication access device to bephysically and electrically isolated from the local area network, sincecalls are terminated at the communications chassis. This is allaccomplished in a manner completely transparent to the remote user.

These and many other features and advantages of the invention willbecome more apparent from the following detailed description ofpreferred embodiments of the invention.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A modular communication access chassis having incorporated therein ageneral purpose computing platform processes calls from remote usersrepresenting digital information between a multiplexed digital telephoneline and a network, so as to enable a remote data terminal connected tothe digital telephone line to communicate via the communications accesschassis with a host computer on the network. The chassis includes atelephone line interface connecting the chassis with a multiplexeddigital telephone line and a network interface connecting the chassis toa local or wide area network. A signal conversion system, such as agroup of modems, is provided for conversion of telephone signals fromthe remote users into a digital format compatible with signal processingrequirements of the computer network. At least one internal chassis busis provided for transmitting data between the telephone interface andthe signal conversion system and between the signal conversion systemand the network interface.

A general purpose computing platform is installed in the communicationschassis. The general purpose computing platform further comprises aninterface providing direct communication access between the generalpurpose computing platform and the internal chassis bus, allowing accessand control by the computing platform of the signal conversion system,the telephone interface, and/or the network interface. The computingplatform has a conventional IBM PC compatible architecture, including aprocessor and local or peripheral memory storage devices. The computingplatform implements a commercially available stand-alone or sharewareopen network operating system, such as Windows® NT™. By virtue of theability of the general purpose computing platform to run network serverprograms on the operating system locally, i.e., in the communicationchassis, computing functionality that has been provided only by remotecomputers on a local area network in the prior art is incorporated intothe communications chassis itself, providing for improved networkmanagement, increased network security and reduced access and processingtime, all in a manner transparent to the remote user.

In a preferred form, the chassis comprises a plurality of slotsreceiving cards incorporating therein the telephone interface, networkinterface and the signal conversion system, and wherein thecommunications chassis further comprises at least one card, insertableinto said one of the slots, having incorporated therein the generalpurpose computing platform.

In one embodiment of the invention, the general purpose computingplatform memory stores a set of data bases and other information in itsmemory that is requested by remote data terminals, in a manner akin to atypical server on a local area network. The general purpose computingplatform is coupled to the internal chassis bus and receives packets ofdata from the signal conversion system. The call from the remote dataterminal is terminated at the communication chassis in the generalpurpose computer platform, without transmission of the call through thenetwork interface onto the network. This provides for enhanced networksecurity, since the communication access chassis can be physically andelectrically isolated from the local network, yet provide full remoteaccess and server functionality to remote users.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a communications chassis in accordancewith the invention showing the chassis having multiple slots formultiple cards, including telephone line interface cards, modem cards,and a card we have termed an “EdgeServer”™ card that has incorporatedthereon the hardware components comprising a general purpose computingplatform, plus user interface ports, and external disk drive, and anetwork interface;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the communications chassis thatincorporates a general purpose computing platform in accordance with apreferred form of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the EdgeServer™ card showing the externalperipheral bus from the card leading to various peripheral memorystorage devices;

FIG. 4 is a schematic illustration of one possible installation of thecommunications chassis of FIGS. 1 and 2, with the chassis connected to alocal area network and facilitating communication between remote usersand server computers on the local area network;

FIG. 5 is an illustration of another possible installation of thecommunication chassis of FIGS. 1 and 2, with the chassis isolated fromthe local area network for security reasons yet still proving completecommunication access and server functionality for a plurality of remoteusers simultaneously; and

FIG. 6 is an illustration of still another possible installation of thecommunications chassis of FIGS. 1 and 2, with the chassis receivingnetwork traffic from a computer network connected to the switchedtelephone network and providing access to computers on the network tothe Internet.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a representative network accesscommunications chassis 10 in accordance with a preferred form of theinvention. The communications chassis 10 processes digital calls betweenremote users (i.e., data terminal equipment) that are connected to thechassis 10 via the public switched telephone network and one or moreincoming digital telephone lines 12, such as T1, E1, or ISDN PrimaryRate Interface (PRI) lines. The communications chassis 10 may providefor network access capability for the remote users via a networkinterface and associated circuitry, as described below.

The chassis 10 of FIG. 1 has a housing 11 containing multiple slots 14for receiving multiple cards 16, each card 16 typically having a set ofcomponents to perform certain functions. The cards 16 are all connectedto each other by a high speed internal chassis bus system. The cardsshown inserted into the slots in the illustrated embodiment include atelephone line interface card 18 and a telephone line application card20 which perform certain multiplexing and demultiplexing functions forthe chassis relative to the telephone lines 12. The chassis also has aset of cards 22 containing modems for performing signal conversions forincoming and outgoing data. The modems convert data into a formatcompatible with transmission requirements of the digital telephone line12 (such as log PCM) and formats compatible with the processingrequirements of the EdgeServer™ card 24 having a general purposecomputing platform and the host computers on the local area network in awell known manner. The chassis may optionally have a management card formanaging the operation of the chassis.

The “EdgeServer”™ card 24 has incorporated thereon the hardware andsoftware components comprising a general purpose computing platform. TheEdgeServer™ card 24 further includes one or more user interface portsfor receiving cables connected to user interface devices, such as avideo monitor interface 32, a mouse interface 34, and a keyboardinterface 36, enabling a user to interface with the general purposecomputer in the chassis. The EdgeServer™ card 24 further includes a harddisk memory (reference 72 in FIG. 2) for storing commercially availablesoftware programs and databases and programs of interest to the remoteusers that may dial in to the communications chassis 10. The EdgeServer™card 24 includes an external disk drive 38 for a diskette, enabling auser to download programs or data bases, or other information onto thehard disk, and a bus interface for connecting the general purposecomputing platform to external memory storage devices on a bus such as aSCSI or SCSI-2 bus 40. The card 24 further has an interface to anindustry standard network used to connected remote computers to thechassis over a network 42 such as an Ethernet or Token Ring network. Thenetwork access and interface circuitry in the EdgeServer™ card 24performs certain protocol processing and placing the calls on a local orwide area network 42 that is connected to the chassis 10. Additionally,the card 24 has the ability to terminate calls locally, i.e., in thechassis 10.

The communication access chassis of FIG. 1 includes a power supply unit44 connected via a power cord 46 to a conventional power source. All ofthe cards 16, 18, 20, etc., including the EdgeServer™ card 24, are “hotswappable” in known manner into and out of the chassis 10, i.e., whenthe chassis is in a powered condition, the EdgeServer™ card 24 may beoperably inserted into or removed from a slot in the chassis, withoutrequiring the power to be removed from the chassis 10. This is aparticularly advantageous feature, since turning the power offeffectively disconnects all the calls that are in progress at the time.

The communication access chassis 10 of FIG. 1 (and the individual cardsthat make up the chassis, including the EdgeServer™ card) is nowcommercially available from U.S. Robotics Access Corp., 8100 N.McCormick Boulevard, Skokie, Ill., the assignee of the presentinvention. The product is known commercially as the Total ControlNetwork Enterprise Hub™, and persons of skill in the art are familiarwith this product or with analogous products available from othertelecommunications companies, to such as Ascend Communications, Inc.,Livingston, Cascade Communications, and Multitech. The cards that makeup the chassis are described in detail in the operators manual thatcomes with the sale of the Network Enterprise Hub™, which isincorporated by reference herein.

The telephone line interface and application cards 18, 20, modem cards22, and internal chassis bus, and computer network interface 66 (seeFIG. 2) of the EdgeServer™ card 24 are described in great detail interms of their component circuitry and operation in two issued UnitedStates patents, assigned to U.S. Robotics, which are fully incorporatedby reference herein: U.S. Pat. No. 5,577,105 of Baum et al., enitled“Telephone Call Switching and Routing Techniques for DataCommunications,” and U.S. Pat. No. 5,528,595 of Walsh et al., entitled“Modem Input/Output Signal Processing Techniques”. The detailedstructure of a preferred internal chassis bus is described in U.S. Pat.No. 5,416,776 to Panzarella et al., entitled “Modem BackplaneTechniques”, also assigned to U.S. Robotics, which is incorporated byreference herein. The management of a chassis by a management card isalso described in detail in U.S. Pat. No. 5,436,614 to Panzarella etal., entitled “Modem Management Techniques,” which is also assigned toU.S. Robotics and incorporated by reference herein.

The chassis of FIG. 1 is shown in block diagram form in FIG. 2. Sincethe details of the telephone line interface and application cards 18,20, modem cards 22, management cards (not shown) and computer networkinterface 66 of the EdgeServer card are already described elsewhere andpersons skilled in the art already know how to build and design suchcircuits (or equivalent circuits), a detailed discussion of thesecomponents of the communication access chassis 10 is not necessary.Additionally, the details as to the architecture or design of thecommunication chassis 10 is not particularly important. What is believedto be novel is the integration of a general purpose computing platform50 into a communication access chassis, the connection of the generalpurpose computing platform 50 to the telephone interface 18, 20elements, network interface 66, and signal conversion system 22 via aninternal chassis bus complex 52, and the manner in which such a chassismay be used. The particular arrangement of components on individualcards or the division of functionality (e.g., telephone interface, modemsignal conversions, etc.) among individual cards is not important. Thus,while the inventors' best mode known for practicing the invention willbe set forth in the context of the particular chassis 10 in FIGS. 1-6,it will be appreciated that the inventors do not consider the inventionlimited to the particular chassis architecture shown.

With reference to FIG. 2, the chassis 10 includes the telephone networkinterface card 18 connected to a digital telephone line 12 such as T1,E1 or a ISDN primary rate interface (PRI). The interface card 18 hasconnectors that physically receive the telephone lines, and a CSU lineinterface unit to recover clock signals and data from the incomingsignals and perform multiplexing and demultiplexing functions foroutgoing and incoming data stream to place the calls into the time slotsof the carrier. The card 18 transmits the telephone signals via aNICINAC (network interface card/network application card) bus 54 to theT1/E1/ISDN PRI/ network application card 20. The application card 20provides framing for the recovered telephone line data to extract the T1DS0 channel data (or ISDN 2B+D channel data incorporated into the ISDNPRI signal), and then switches the channel data to time slots on aninternal chassis bus complex 52 comprising a time division multiplexedbus 56 for transmission to a signal conversion system, described below.The internal chassis bus 52 further includes a high speed parallelpacket bus 58 connecting all of the modules or cards of the chassis 10as shown.

The time division multiplexed bus 56 provides 8 kilo bytes per secondconnections between as many as 256 end devices or modules. The buscomplex includes a frame sync line, a time slot clock line, a bit clockline and two data highway lines (not shown). The connections on the TDMbus 56 between the telephone application card 20 and the modems in themodem cards 22 are static or “nailed up” connections and are establishedon power-up of the chassis 10. There are 64 time slots in each frame onthe TDM bus 56. Each modem in the chassis is assigned an individual timeslot. During a time slot, a modem will read one octet of data from oneof the TDM bus highways and write one octet of data to the otherhighway. The TDM bus 56 thus provides a pathway for the recoveredchannel data in PCM form (for T1) or raw digital data (for an ISDN line)to be assigned and routed from the T1/E1/PRI NAC 20 to the modems ortheir equivalent in the modem network application cards 22.

The chassis 10 includes a signal conversion system for conversion oftelephone signals from the remote users on the TDM bus into a digitalformat compatible with signal processing requirements of the generalpurpose computing platform and the computer network connected to thechassis, and vice versa. This signal conversion system takes the form ofa set of modem network application cards 22 which each contain aplurality of modem DSPs and associated circuitry for performing modemsignal conversions on PCM telephone signals sent to the cards via theTDM bus 56. The number of individual modems on a card 22 is notparticularly significant, and in the preferred embodiment there are foursuch modems per card. The total number of modem network applicationcards 22 depends on the number of individual communication channels onthe telephone line 12 the chassis 10 is connected to and the number ofmodems per card, with the idea being that one modem for each datachannel on the digital telephone line 12 is needed. The modem networkapplication cards 22 include interface circuitry for receiving andtransmitting TDM telephone bus signals relative to the TDM bus 56, anddrivers for placing demodulated data signals onto a parallel packet bus58 linking all the cards in the chassis as shown. For an ISDN line, thesignal conversion system may comprise one or more ISDN terminal adaptersfor converting the raw digital data into forms compatible with thegeneral purpose computing platform 50 in the chassis 10 and thecomputers connected to the chassis 10 via the network 30 or 42.

The chassis 10 further includes a set of multiple modem networkinterface cards 23 that contain RS-232 drivers for placing serial datafrom the modems in the modem application cards onto a computer connectedto the chassis via cable 25. Additional functionality may beincorporated into the modem network interface card 23, such as a CODECfor connecting the chassis to an analog phone line, and ISDN BRIcircuitry.

Communication between the modules or cards of the chassis 10 is via thehigh speed parallel packet bus 58 which is part of the internal chassisbus complex 52. While there are many equivalent busses that can be usedfor this function (both packet and non-packet), such as an ISA bus, apreferred one in the illustrated embodiment is a packet bus conformingto the ANSI/IEEE NuBus standard. This bus is a 32 bit parallel busoperating at 10 MHz . The available bandwidth on the bus 58 is dividedamong the modems or other elements that currently have data to transmitacross the bus 58. The parallel bus 58 transmits data between the modemsin the modem network application module 22 and the EdgeServer™ card 24in packets in a digital form compatible with data processingrequirements of a general purpose computer 50.

As shown in FIG. 2, the EdgeServer™ 24 card can accesses telephone bussignals on TDM bus directly via the TDM bus connect or interface 60 andassociated TDM transmit and receive drivers and associated circuitryincorporated into the computing platform 50, generally as described inthe above-referenced Baum et al. and Walsh et al. patents. TheEdgeServer™ card 24 is thus provided with direct access via the TDM buswith the telephone signals from the telephone line application 20 andinterface 18 cards. Incoming data from the remote user on the telephoneline 12 may be transmitted in log PCM form (or other form depending onthe choice of telephone line) via the TDM bus 56 to well known modemcircuitry (not shown) within the EdgeServer™ card 24.

Ordinarily, however, the data will be routed first to the signalconversion system, i.e., modem cards 22, and converted into a formcompatible with the processing requirements of the general purposecomputing platform 50 in the EdgeServer™ card 24, and transmitted viathe parallel packet bus 58 to the parallel bus interface circuitry 62 inthe card 24. The packets of data on the parallel bus 58 will ordinarilybe of a smaller size, and have different headers due to the requirementsof the packet bus, than the data packets used by the operating system orapplications programs (e.g., Window™ NT) running on the EdgeServer™ card24. Therefore, packet assembly and de-assembly for incoming and outgoingpackets is performed at the parallel bus interface as indicated at 64between the parallel bus 58 and the computing platform 50. This assemblyand de-assembly is according to well known techniques is considered tobe conventional and well within the ability of persons of ordinary skillin the art.

By virtue of the interfaces 60 and 62 between the general purposecomputing platform 50 and the TDM and parallel busses 56 and 58,respectively, the EdgeServer™ card 24 has direct communication accesswith the telephone interface cards 18, 20 and the signal conversionsystem 22. In some specific applications of the invention, it may not benecessary to connect the computing platform 50 directly to all of theelements or cards of the chassis. For example, the computing platform 50may need to have access only to the parallel bus 56.

The EdgeServer™ card 24 further includes a “gateway” or networkinterface 66. The interface 66 receives demodulated data from remoteusers from the signal conversion system in the modem cards 22 via theparallel bus 58, packet bus connect 62, and NACINIC bus 63 and processedby the Edgeserver™ card 24. The interface 42 also receives digital datafrom host computers connected on the network 42 destined for the remoteusers. The interface 66 has DSP and associated circuitry for performingindustry standard IEEE 802.3 and IEEE 802.5 protocol processing andforming data into packet forms suitable for placement on the computernetwork 42 connected to the chassis 10. The interface 66 containsbuffers and industry standard network interface controllers and networkinterface drivers for placing data on the network 42 and receiving datafrom the network 42.

The general purpose computing platform 50 in the communications chassis10 is based on a well known and industry standard IBM compatible PCarchitecture, such as an off-the-shelf IBM PC compatible computer. Theplatform has the suite of hardware and interfaces that is commonlyassociated with a PC—a processor such as an Intel 486DX4 100 MHzprocessor 70, a high storage capacity internal hard drive memory 72, anindustry standard Ethernet or other LAN interface 66 that is appropriatefor the particular installation requirements of the chassis, and thevideo port 32, keyboard port 36, a serial port (not shown) and a mouseport 34. As shown in FIG. 3, the computing platform 50 is alsopreferably provided with a peripheral or external memory storageexpansion bus interface 74 connected to an industry standard bus 40(e.g., SCSI, SCSI-2 or USB) with additional storage devices such asCD-ROMs 76, additional hard disks 78, back-up systems such as a tapedrive 80 and redundant arrays of inexpensive disks 82 connected to thebus 40. In this embodiment, the memory capacity for the card may besignificantly expanded and reside primarily on the external bus 40.

The hard disk 72 for the computing platform 50 card may either be asingle disk, more than one disk, or mirrored in pairs. The hard disk 72functions as the primary data storage for the programs or informationaccessed by remote users calling into the card 24. The hard disk 72further stores the operating system running that is booted up when thechassis 10 is turned on or when the card 24 is inserted in the chassis10. The card 24 has floppy disk drive 38 which provides a means forloading new programs for the operating system running in the computingplatform or exchanging data with other computers.

The general purpose computing platform 50 is ideally capable of runninga commercially available operating system, preferably an “open” networkoperating system. The operating system may be a UNIX™-based operatingsystem, Solaris 86™, Windows® NT™, Novell Netware, BSDI UNIX fromBerkeley Software Design Inc., or otherwise. One of the principalfeatures of the preferred embodiment is that with the general purposecomputing platform 50 installed in the chassis 10, running acommercially available network operating system such as Windows® N™,commercially available programs for the system such as Windows® NT™ RAS(Remote Access Service) can be loaded onto the hard disk 72 (or externalmemory devices) and immediately used to provide remote access andnetwork management functions for the communications chassis 10, with noadditional training, set-up, configuration, custom programming ormanagement needed for persons familiar with Windows® NT™ The LAN or MISadministrator does not need to develop it internally. Because theinternal chassis bus 52 connects the computing platform 50 with themodem cards 22, telephone line interface and application cards 18 and20, the computing platform 50 can readily manage the traffic through thechassis 10, intercept some calls and terminate the calls at the generalpurpose computing platform 50, or route others through the gatewayinterface 66 onto the network 42.

Some examples of these features will be described in conjunction withFIG. 4, FIG. 5 and FIG. 6. FIG. 4 is a schematic illustration of onepossible installation of the communications chassis 10 of FIGS. 1-3,with the chassis 10 connected to a local area network 42 andfacilitating communication between a plurality of remote usersrepresented by computers 84A, 84B and 84C and server computers 86A, 86Band 86C on the local area network 42. The example of FIG. 4 is fullyapplicable to WAN topologies. A plurality of remote users 84A etc. areconnected via the telephone network PSTN and ISDN PRI 12 to thecommunications chassis 10 of FIGS. 1-3. The remote users need not bepersons operating personal computers, but rather the illustration of thecomputers 84A, 84B and 84C is intended to encompass data terminationequipment and computers generally.

The communication access chassis 10 is shown connected to a LAN 42having multiple server computers 86A, 86B, 86C etc. In the example ofFIG. 4, one server 86A is devoted to corporate data bases, one 86B isdevoted to sales and marketing, and the other server 86C is devoted tohuman resources. General corporate information of interest to the remoteusers is stored on one of the hard disks 78 (FIG. 3) connected to theEdgeServer card 24 via the external bus 40 (or of course it can bestored on the local hard disk 72 or the one of the RA/D memories 82).

The general purpose computing platform 50 in the communication accesschassis 10 functions as a gateway to direct requests from the remoteusers 84A, 84B, to the appropriate server 86A, 86B, 86C etc. Thisfunctionality is built into the programs running on the computingplatform operating system (e.g., Windows® NT™), and can be physicallyaccomplished, for example, by using TCP/IP header information for theindividual calls in the netwvork interface 66, using MF tones orsignaling schemes in the incoming call during call set-up in the mannerdescribed in detail in the Baum et al. patent referenced above, using amanagement card or in still other ways. In this embodiment, security andfirewall functionality reside on the computing platform 50 in thecommunication chassis 10, providing an additional measure of securityfor the LAN 42.

In a preferred embodiment, Window NT™ Remote Access Service is run onthe general purpose computing platform 50. Remote Access Service is aprogram that takes data from the communication interface at the modemsin cards 22 and directs calls to destinations on the local area network,or directs calls to be terminated in the EdgeServer card 24 in thechassis 10. Several component features in RAS may be implemented. One isDHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol). This is an industry standardprotocol for automatically assigning Internet Protocol (IP)configurations to remote work stations on LAN 30, eliminating the needfor manually configuring each work station. A second is WINS (WindowsInternetwork Name Service), a distributed database for registering andquerying dynamic name to IP address mappings in a routed networkenvironment. A third is Multilink Channel Aggregation, which enablesremote users 84A, 84B, etc. dialing into the chassis 10 to combineseveral dial-up lines in the telephone line to achieve faster datatransfer speeds.

Furthermore, by virtue of the memory capacity of the computing platform50 in the chassis 10, either resident on the card 24 or accessible via aperipheral bus 40 as shown in FIG. 3, select information of interestfrequently requested by remote users (such as product and pricinginformation) may be stored in the memories for the computing platform50. The calls are terminated in the general purpose computing platform50 in the chassis 10. For example, referring to FIGS. 2 and 4, after themodem in the modem card 22 has demodulated the incoming call into aformat compatible with the computing platform 50, the call is placed onthe parallel bus 58. The packets of data are transmitted to the parallelbus interface 62 for the card 24, assembled into packets compatible withthe operating system of the computing platform by the packet assembler64, and processed by the applications program running in the computingplatform 50 in a manner transparent to the remote user 84B. Thisoff-loads traffic that would have been sent onto the local area network42, reducing the traffic load. It also reduces the response time for theremote user, since the time delays associated with routing the callbetween the communications chassis 10 and a server on the network 42 iseliminated. The migration of the corporate Web page or corporateintranet server to a computing platform on the network edge, i.e., in ahigh performance communication access chassis 10 capable of serving aplurality of remote users simultaneously, is believed unique and highlyadvantageous.

Among the many advantages provided by this embodiment of the invention,network management is perhaps the most readily apparent. Requests fromremote users are efficiently handled, either at the general purposecomputing platform or in the corporate network, depending on theinformation that is stored in the communications chassis and theinterests of the remote user. This produces quicker response times formany calls, decreases network traffic, and allows the network to supportmore remote users and applications processing. The operating systemrunning at the chassis 10 preferably implements security and firewallfunctions at the network access point, i.e., the chassis 10, rather thanat the server on the local area network, giving obvious securityimprovements.

The integration of the general purpose computing platform into thecommunications chassis provides for the ability of the computingplatform to arbitrate across high density modem cards, while maintaininghigh performance. By virtue of the easy loading of software programsinto the computing platform 50 via the external disk drive 38,off-the-shelf modular solutions for standard applications can beintroduced into the communication chassis 10, allowing it to serve manyfunctions, e.g., network fax, Internet access, web server, intranetserver, and so on.

Another example of how the inventive communication chassis can be usedwill be described in conjunction with FIG. 5. In this embodiment, thechassis 10 is set up as a stand-alone, self-contained communicationaccess and information system that is isolated, as shown, from the localarea network 42. Incoming calls, for example up to 24 or 48 callssubstantially simultaneously, are terminated in the general purposecomputing platform 50 (FIG. 2) in the communications chassis 10. This isperformed by the communication chassis of FIGS. 1-5 by demultiplexingthe calls from the telephone line 12 at the TI NIC 18 and T1 NAC 20,routing the calls on the TDM bus 52 to the modems in the signalconversion system 22 and performing modem signal conversions by thetwenty four or forty eight modems in the cards 22, and placing the datasteam on the parallel bus 58 for transmission to the computing platform50. In this embodiment, the Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) processing maybe distributed to the modems in the chassis in the manner described inthe patent application of Daniel L. Schoo et al., Ser. No. 08/486,591,which is incorporated by reference herein. The packets of data with PPPheader data are reassembled at the packet bus interface 64 at the card24, and passed up to the applications programs running on the generalpurpose computing platform 50.

The network administrator installing the chassis in the embodiment toFIG. 5 can be selective in the types of information that is stored onthe hard disk 72 or peripheral storage devices 78, 80 etc. (FIG. 3) forthe general purpose computing platform 50. Keeping this information onthe general purpose computing platform, and isolating the chassis fromthe network, provides the ultimate in security because the chassis 10 isphysically and electrically isolated from the network 42, and obviouslyfrom the servers 86 on the network 42 as well. However, to the remoteusers 84A, 84B, 84C, the chassis to 10 is completely transparent and theuser retrieves information from the general purpose computing platformwithout knowing, or even caring, if the user is connected to the network42. Thus, the chassis 10, though isolated from the local area network 42for security reasons, still proves complete communication access andserver functionality for a plurality of remote users simultaneously in amanner that is transparent to the users.

The network 42 may still be accessible to other select users 84 D via asecond communication access chassis 10, which may or may not have thegeneral purpose computer platform incorporated therein. For example, thesecond chassis 10′ may have a general purpose computing platform and beoperated as shown in FIG. 4, and provide routing, modem supervision,arbitration, security or other features for the users 84D that accessthe chassis 10′.

A further example of how the communication access chassis may beimplemented in an Internet access service provider embodiment is shownin FIG. 6. A network 90 such as a local area network having a pluralityof computers 92, 94, 96, 98 is shown connected to the switched telephonenetwork PSTN via a communication access chassis 10′ or router, such asthe Total Control Network Enterprise Hub™. Some of the network datatraffic is directed via incoming digital telephone line 12 to acommunication access chassis 10 in accordance with the invention. Thegeneral purpose computing platform in the EdgeServer™ card 24 isconnected via network interface 66 to the Internet 42. Some of the datatraffic is terminated locally in the general purpose computing platformin the EdgeServer™ card 24, with the card providing Web page typefunctionality due to the memory capacity on the peripheral storage bus40. Other traffic from the network 90 is destined for other computers onthe Internet 42 and routed through the EdgeServer™ card 24.

While the invention has been described in conjunction with presentlypreferred embodiments of the invention, persons of skill in the art willappreciate that variations may be made without departure from the scopeand spirit of the invention. For example, the manner in which thechassis interfaces to the telephone network or local area or wide areanetwork, the type of telephone lines that are used, and the internalchassis bus architecture are not considered critical. This true scopeand spirit is defined by the appended claims, interpreted in light ofthe foregoing.

We claim:
 1. A remote access server system for providing remote accessto a computer network comprising: a network access server embodied in acommunication access chassis processing calls from a plurality of remoteusers simultaneously along an incoming communications line andconnecting said remote users to said computer network, saidcommunication access chassis comprising, in combination, a firstinterface to said computer network; a second interface to said incomingcommunications line; an internal chassis bus connected to said secondinterface; and a general purpose computing platform installed in saidcommunications chassis running a commercially available general purposecomputer operating system, said general purpose computing platformfurther comprising an interface providing direct communication accessbetween said general purpose computing platform and said internalchassis bus, thereby enabling said general purpose computing platform toreceive and terminate said incoming calls from said second interface;and a machine readable memory coupled to said general purpose computingplatform storing information accessible to said remote users, wherebysaid remote users may access said information via said machine readablememory and thereby avoid having to be connected to said network toaccess said information and thereby increasing the security of saidnetwork.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said machine readablememory comprises a hard disk in said general purpose computing platform.3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said machine readable memorycomprises a data storage device located on a peripheral bus connected tosaid general purpose computing platform.
 4. The apparatus of claim 1,wherein said information comprises an intranet web page.
 5. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein said general purpose computing platformdynamically assigns Internet Protocol addresses to said remote usersusing a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol.
 6. The apparatus of claim1, wherein said general purpose computing platform registers and queriesdynamic name to Internet Protocol address mappings using a WindowsInternetwork Name Service.
 7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein saidcommunication chassis combines plural dial-up lines using MultilinkChannel Aggregation.
 8. A method of providing access to information ofinterest to a remote user while retaining network security, comprisingthe steps of: connecting said remote user over a communications line toa network access server, said network access server processing incomingcalls from other remote users and providing a network interface allowingselected other remote users to communicate with servers on a computernetwork coupled to said network interface; providing a general purposecomputing platform in said network access server and a commerciallyavailable general purpose computing platform operating system in saidgeneral purpose computing platform; running said commercially availablegeneral purpose computing platform operating system in said networkaccess server; providing information of interest to said remote user ona machine readable memory coupled to said general purpose computingplatform; and terminating said connection from said remote user in saidgeneral purpose computing platform and providing access to saidinformation of interest to said remote user without connecting saidremote user to a server on said network, thereby increasing the securityof said network.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein said network accessserver includes a plurality of modems and wherein said communicationsline comprises a digital multiplexed telephone line, and wherein saidnetwork access server includes an internal chassis bus complex connectedto said plurality of modems.
 10. The method of claim 8, wherein saidmachine readable memory comprises a data storage device located on aperipheral bus connected to said general purpose computing platform. 11.The method of claim 8, wherein said machine readable memory comprises ahard disk in said general purpose computing platform.
 12. The method ofclaim 8, wherein said information comprises an intranet web page. 13.The method of claim 8, further comprising dynamically assigning anInternet Protocol address to said remote user using a Dynamic HostConfiguration Protocol.
 14. The method of claim 8, further comprisingregistering and querying a dynamic name to Internet Protocol addressmapping using a Windows Internetwork Name Service.
 15. The method ofclaim 8, further comprising combining plural dial-up lines usingMultilink Channel Aggregation.